The New Diet Plan

About a week or ten days ago, I began a new low fat, higher carb diet. It's kind of a hybrid of many of the things that I've read and done. Kinda scary to be going it alone for the first time (well, unless you include the old diet. . . you know, eat until you explode.)

Features of the new plan:

• Low fat -- stick to leaner meats and fish, less beef
• Keep fats to "good" fats as much as possible: olive oil, canola oil, etc.
• Increase carbs significantly -- whole wheat grains, brown rice are good
• Lots more fruit
• About 1600-2000 calories a day

I have definitely noticed that I have more energy than I did, which is one reason I looked to move on. I'm not less tired, just have more energy. (Sadly, I fear the only solution for the tired problem is more sleep or more hours in the day.)

It's been nice to have some new variety, too. The fruit has been great: bananas, cantaloupe, oranges. I've missed them all. Still feels kinda weird to bite into a sandwich. For dinner last night, Deb sauteed a whole pan of veggies: squash, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes, and put it over whole wheat pasta. Still do the salad bar at lunch, just cut out the tuna salad.

I'm also tracking my calories using Fitday.com. I thought it would be a pain in the butt to do this, but it's really not as bad as I though it would be. This has worked out really well and has kept me on track, not wanting to put any big numbers up on there. Eating out creates the biggest challenge, but most restaurants have nutritional info on their web sites.

Two surprises so far: the bowl of chicken chili at a local rotisserie place was more than 500 calories. Was supposed to be a snack, not a meal. Then there was the martini at dinner Saturday night -- almost 300 calories with the olives, but it was goooooooood!

L'Chaim!